New Age E-Commerce Products Making False Claims To Mislead Consumers

 

 _"Consuming without knowledge : Failure"_ 

Increasing popularity of buying things from online websites, E-Commerce business , has brought a big change in the way of living and shopping habits of Consumers in India.

Initially, people used natural ingredients in the absence of modern personal care products to look attractive. However, scientific advancements have served an array of modern personal care products.

With the increasing graph of income and standard of life, people demand such personal care products which are natural and healthy. Despite the presence of old established companies, a continuously expanding market is presenting equal growth opportunities to newer companies. 

Immensely popular new E-Commerce brands claims that their products are natural .Their authenticity of the claims, that are responsible for the popularity, are still questionable as most of the products lack transparency in labelling and certifications. The composition of ingredients in their products contradicts their claims. They use marketing gimmick in their claims to entice the customers. Possibly, to market their products, increase the customer base, and multiply the sales, the new-age companies have been making such claims of their products to be natural. 

Such brands are misleading their customers by claiming certification that is from non-accredited agencies. Their whole marketing and the advertising strategy is based on luring customers by claiming to be natural while hiding chemical components under the names that customers are not aware of . If we see the products of one of the visible brands — MamaEarth’s baby products namely — ‘deeply nourishing body wash for babies’, they broadly claim that there are no harmful chemicals and the product is natural. While Potassium Sorbate , an ingredient in the product , may cause skin irritation in some cases or the other.

When consumers decide to buy a product, they mostly depend on the information given by companies in their product advertisements. It creates a competition between many companies. However, this race to be on the top has led to an increase in malpractice of false claims and advertisements with regards to quality, amount, services, prices and discounts on products. The Maggi noodle controversy is most likely one of the biggest ones to hit a popular food item. While the advertisements claimed the noodle to be a healthy and fast food option for children, Maggi samples collected from different states found monosodium glutamate (MSG) and lead in excess of the prescribed limit in the instant noodles.

E-commerce business rely on electronic transactions to charge customers for products and services. The increased volume of electronic transactions has also resulted in an increase in fraudulent activities. There are times when after payment, they didn't deliver the products and if they did, wrong products are being delivered. As a recent example of online sale fraud, a user received a fake iPhone 11 Pro via Flipkart's recently concluded Big Billion Days Sale instead of an original Apple product. The incident was brought to the surface via a YouTube video.

What we can do : 

• Read ads carefully to find out what is really being offered. Read everything. 

• If ads were stating discount on products, don't assume it will be cheaper and better as before giving discounts, they might raise the price of products.

• Be cautious about free offers and read the terms/ conditions of it.

• Always be aware of your duties as consumers and then only we can claim our rights.

Conclusion :

In all, customer needs to be an informed buyer. So, it should be our call to have a multidimensional scan of the product and services before buying them, without relying on advertisements and labelling. The ensuing discrepancies are eventually tendering harm to us - the customers.

By - Mahi Pal